Partners in Crime
by Rae1
Summary: Yaoi. Eventual Daishiro. Wfor a request by Pilot02. Cute and fluffy, with minimal angst, and semi-humorous moments.
1. Caught, tried, and sentenced-By a jury o...

Caught, tried, and sentenced by a jury of peers?

  
  
"NO!" Daisuke watched in sudden panic as the soccer ball flew through the glass pane, the sound of the breakage gaining the attention of the room's other occupants. Koushiro, standing next to him when he kicked the ball, crumpled to his knees in misery, his face hidden in his hands. It had been his yell that tried to call the ball back.  
  
"Uh, jeez, Izzy. I'm really sorry about that." The younger boy stood rather sheepishly by the computer genius that was staring in horror at the window. "I'll, um, pay for that?"  
  
"My mother is going to kill me." He spoke hoarsely, black eyes frightened. The rest of the digidestined looked at the two boys with a mixture of amusement and sympathy. It wasn't everyday that anyone went around, breaking the brand new windows in the Izumi household. The glass had only been in place for six days.   
  
"Maybe it won't be that bad?" Breaking things was nothing new to Daisuke, but by the older boy's reaction, he might have killed his best friend with that badly placed kick. His own parents would simply growl and yell, and replace the stupid thing. They, too, were used to his rather destructive ways.  
  
The door to the Izumi apartment opened, and twelve pair of eyes turned to the smiling couple that entered. "Hello, children, how are-" The woman's voice stopped as she stepped into the living room and caught sight of the hole in her window.   
  
Koushiro stood up resignedly, and faced his mother, but Daisuke interrupted him before he could say anything. "I'm really sorry, Mrs. Izumi! Izzy tried to stop me, but I wasn't paying attention, and I kicked the ball, and please don't be mad at him, because it was my fault!" His friends nodded in agreement, knowing that there wasn't much she could do against Daisuke outside of calling his parents.  
  
She looked from the two apologetic boys in front of her to the broken window, and then back again. The man behind her simply stood back and let her decide what to do. There was no doubt that she was the backbone of the family. With a frown, she addressed them. "Thank you for your admission of guilt, Davis, but that still doesn't leave Izzy guilt-free. Now, what do you think would be a suitable punishment?"  
  
They looked at each other, debating. She held up a hand before either one could answer her, and turned to the others.  
  
"What do you children think would be fitting?" The group huddled, and Mrs. Izumi waited for their reply. Finally, they stood up, and Joe stepped forward with their sentencing.  
  
"We think that the worst thing for Daisuke to have to do would be homework. And for Koushiro, the worst possible thing would be to have to help him do it. We suggest that Izzy be Davis's tutor."  
The two in question groaned at the thought of having to spend time together.   
  
"That's actually a good suggestion. Thank you. You guys have to leave now, unfortunately, because I'm grounding Koushiro on top of it." The other digi-destined left, abandoning their friends to the mercy, or lack thereof, of Mrs. Izumi.  
  
"Man, that's harsh." Daisuke ignored the glare that his new 'tutor' sent his way, and plopped onto the nearest piece of furniture, which happened to be an antique chair. That cracked loudly under his sudden weight. He looked up fearfully, his eyes wide.  
  
"I have a feeling that I'm going to regret this more than either of you." The woman rubbed her temple, and then turned to her husband to ask him to call the window company.  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
The next day was the start of their joint punishment. Davis would go to the Izumi apartment directly after soccer practice, which was scheduled after school. He would stay there through dinner, until eight o'clock, when Mr. Izumi would drive him home.   
  
He glared at his new tutor with a stubborn refusal to learn anything in the next four hours. He might have to study, but that didn't mean he had to actually remember any of the information that Koushiro was going to attempt to shove into his brain. It wasn't fair that he should have to study, and learn.  
  
They were in the kitchen, where his mother could watch them, Koushiro sitting patiently by the archway leading into the rest of the apartment, Daisuke in the chair next to him. He had sat down slowly and carefully; weary of the furniture after the events of the previous day. Their jailer was nowhere in sight, and they were both uninterested of starting the session. They stared at the unopened book in front of them with identical expressions of doom.  
  
"I don't hear you boys studying!" The voice came from somewhere near the back of the apartment, where they assumed the Warden, so-called by Daisuke, was hiding herself away doing laundry. He sighed, and then reached out with trepidation towards his math text. He didn't notice the amusement that the look on his face gave to the redhead beside him. Koushiro fought back laughter as the hand barely touching the corner of the book started to shake of its own accord.   
  
Giving in, and taking pity on his cellmate, he reached out and opened the book, catching the nearly inaudible sigh of relief his action brought. "Why don't we start easy? What do you know?" If they were going to be stuck together for the next couple of weeks, he'd be mature enough to work off his time, instead of trying to pull one over on his mother. Hopefully, she'd see how much trouble he was actually going through, trying to teach Daisuke, that she'd let them both off early simply to save him the stress and eventual breakdown.  
  
The dark glare sent his way just increased his determination to make the best of things. "I know that math sucks, and the teacher hates me." Brown eyes moved away to turn their intensity towards catching the offending book on fire. It failed, leaving Koushiro to hope that the boy next to him never found anything combustible within reach while they were studying.  
  
"How much math do you know?" The direct approach should work. If he knew where to start, they'd have something to work from.   
  
"Well. I can't do big multiplication, or long division. I can do formulas, like Force is equal to mass times acceleration, and stuff. But we're not studying that, so it's rather pointless."  
  
"You can do the more complicated math, but not the basics?" That was a surprise. It wasn't everyday that you realized that Davis had a brain, let alone that he was capable of using it in a constructive way.  
  
"Yeah, well. It sucks, because I can't get to the stuff I can do, 'cuz of the stuff I can't." He pulled a pencil out of his bag, and opened his notebook. With determination, mostly to avoid having to talk about one of his more obvious failings, he copied down the first question in the section he had to work on.   
  
Koushiro waited patiently, trying to decide whether he just took a while to think, or if he was having difficulty with the problem. After several minutes of silence, in which they were both surprised his mother didn't remind them to work, the auburn-haired holder of courage and friendship, put his pencil to the paper. And pushed, breaking the tip. He took the offending utensil between both hands, broke it in half, and then threw both pieces over his shoulder.  
  
"Davis?" His black eyes concerned, the older boy leaned back, unsure of exactly what his friend was feeling or planning. "Are you okay?"  
  
A deep sigh, and lashes closed over the frustration and self-directed anger in his brown eyes. "Yeah. Do you have a pencil? That was my last one."  
  
"Of course. Just a moment, I have to get one from my room." He stood up, glad to get away from the table.

Inmates: why mothers make wonderful wardens

He shouldn't have left the room. The moment he stepped into his room, his mother was right behind him. "What's going on?" Her voice caused him to jump in fright, as her footfall had been silent on the carpet, and he hadn't realized that she was there.  
  
"Nothing. He broke his pencil, and I have to get him another one." She nodded, accepting his answer as truth. Then she looked at him.  
  
"Why not him?" He rolled his eyes, not wanting to discuss -that- of all things. "He's a nice enough boy, and he's very respectful."  
  
"He's also one of the most accident-prone people I know, and his level of maturity is below that commonly found among pre-pubescent. He's constantly chattering on inanely about nothing, and he never sits still long enough to have quasi-intelligent conversation."  
  
"So? He's cute, and I'm certain that he's very loyal. He also seems to like you dear. He stuck up for you so bravely yesterday."  
  
"Speaking of which, why couldn't you bring all of this up yesterday, instead of the present moment, when he's sitting barely twenty feet away?" He waved his arm in the general direction of the kitchen, fully aware that Daisuke wouldn't venture into the hallway for fear of being caught.  
  
His mother just smiled at him with motherly affection, ruffled his hair, and went back down the hallway. He smiled after her, shaking his head in mild exasperation, then went to the desk for the pencil that had been his reason for leaving the kitchen. He picked a blue one, and stared out, and then decided that Daisuke might break that one, too.   
  
When he arrived back in the kitchen, he found Daisuke snoring with his head on the table, his hands lying loosely on the table. His face was toward the opening, and Koushiro could see the tiny bit of drool that hung from his mouth.  
  
"And she asks why?" He smirked, wishing his mother could see the boy now. Ever since she'd found out that he was gay, she'd been trying to get him to go out with one of his friends. She never failed to strike him when a friend was over, and he wandered off alone. And he had to offer a different excuse for each of them, why he couldn't possibly be interested in them. It didn't matter if the real reason was his lack of confidence in himself. He might have actually asked one of his friends out if he wasn't afraid of being rejected by one or all of them.  
  
Once, he had come close. When the Kaiser had first returned as Ken, he'd had a long talk with the boy. That had been nearly three years ago, and he'd let the opportunity pass, knowing that the genius was in a strained emotional state. The chance never came again, and he didn't really regret it. And now, Ken was dating Miyako, so he didn't have to worry about the chance coming again.   
  
As for the others. Well, there had never really been anything that drew him to any of them. Jyou, Miyako and Iori were probably the nearest, besides Ken, to his intelligence, which meant that he had to forego actually talking to his date, should he have asked. Iori was dating Takeru, and Miyako was a female. Enough said. Joe was wonderful, but taken by Mimi, and, he wasn't gay.  
  
Looking at what was left, there's little to wonder why he was still single. Tai, the egomaniac, was too pushy, too bossy, and too impatient. He didn't like subtlety, and he hated having to actually discuss anything. Matt was too depressed, in love with Tai, and determined to remain single until the former realized that he, too, loved the latter. How he knew that was a well-kept secret.   
  
That left...Daisuke. Daisuke who couldn't do long division, but new the equation of F=ma. He reached out, curiously, and shook the boy awake. "Hey, Davis?"   
  
"Hn?" A yawn preceded the blinking of his eyes.  
  
"What's gravity?" Another yawn.  
  
"G, in the lowercase. Normally -9.81 meters per second squared." His eyes slid shut again, and he wiped sleepily at his mouth.   
  
Interesting. "And what is Weight?"  
  
"Something Miyako has too much of?" Yawn. Chuckle. Koushiro grinned, and rolled his eyes. Figures. "It's also the effect of gravity on a mass."  
  
Bingo. Now, for the hard stuff. "What's 3,930, divided by 131?"   
  
"I hate you."   
  
"Just answer the question." An aggravated sigh, and brown eyes peeped open.  
  
"Why do you hate me?"  
  
"Why are you stalling?" Koushiro was fighting his grin. Daisuke could do physics, but not division. It was amusing, really, to think that he'd once judged him as entirely lacking in intelligence. He was willing to admit that he'd been half-wrong.  
  
"Because you hate me?" He lifted his head from the table, and glared up at the redhead. "It's...one hundred, and...something." His scowl darkened at the obvious amusement on his tutor's face. "How did you manage to make it to your room without the Warden hot on your trail?"  
  
"Don't worry, she found me." He sighed, realizing that the other boy wasn't going to let him experiment any longer. "Why don't we start? Again?" He set a box on the table, and opened it to reveal nearly forty pencils, all sharpened. "Pick one. If you break it, you will replace it."  
  
"Aw, man." Daisuke reached in, pulled out the blue one that Koushiro had picked up earlier, and grumbled about pencil fetishes. He looked at the book, at the paper, back at the book, and then at Koushiro. "Help?"  
  
"What problem?" That was something that he could do. Maybe they'd be lucky, and Daisuke was only half-joking. Maybe  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
Maybe the floor of the kitchen would open up, and swallow him whole. Actually, he wished it would swallow Daisuke, and get him as far away from him as possible. He had lost any hope about Daisuke's math skills ten minutes after starting the first question. An hour later, he'd given the boy a calculator. Now, at eight o'clock, he had a headache that would never go away and they'd gotten nothing done.   
  
Two problems. That was it. Two problems in four hours of work, using a calculator. He watched as his father came in. "Time to go, Davis." Brown eyes lit up, and he jumped up, shoved his things into his bag, and ran to the door. Mr. Izumi frowned in confusion, looked at his son, who shrugged, and followed.  
  
His mother came in. Maybe the floor could swallow her? "Well?"  
  
"Two problems." He let those two words speak volumes; saw her frown, and the hesitation in her eyes. She sat down in the chair that the boy in question had abandoned, and sighed.  
  
"I'm sorry. No wonder you don't like him. I know that want someone you can talk to." She looked up, suddenly hopeful. "Maybe math just isn't his thing. I'm sure that the two of you can find some kind of common ground. Just give him time, and a chance."  
  
A chance. "Have you even considered the fact that he might not be gay?" He pointed out something that he, too, had thought over in the last several hours. It made her pause, but only briefly.  
  
"Have you considered the fact that he may be?" She reached over, and touched his hand. "Look, honey. I know that you're afraid of someone saying no, but unless you ask him, he can't say 'yes', either. Have faith in yourself, dear. I think your perfect, and I know that your friends think pretty highly of you, too. Don't be so worried about your own shortcomings, that you refuse to see past those of others."   
  
She got up again, and left him to think over what she had said. Mothers were great for advice.


	2. Breaking out-Finding freedom

Breaking out-finding freedom

  
Davis glared at the door to the Izumi apartment. He didn't want to ring the doorbell, dang it! It wasn't fair. One broken window, and he had to give up four weeks of his life to study. Parole was another two weeks away, but he didn't know if he could last that long. Two weeks had already made him ready to run screaming through the streets naked.  
  
Not that it took much for him to be an exhibitionist. That didn't mean that he was a masochist, though. He liked to show off, not be tortured for petty things like glass, and playing soccer inside.   
  
It was beautiful weather to be outside, and his fingers itched painfully at the thought of having to push that button. Was it truly worth it? An afternoon of playing, and having fun? Of course, that would probably mean added time.   
  
He pushed the button. For two weeks, he'd sat in the kitchen, and listened as Koushiro tried to talk him through math problem after math problem. Lately, he'd started to understand enough to finish homework assignments, but he still had problems with in-class work, and he knew that the teacher was starting to get suspicious that he was cheating.  
  
Ironic. He was actually learning, and he'd probably fail anyway, because the teacher hated him, and was going to revoke the grade he doubly earned, half by studying, half by putting up with two weeks of the stuff.   
  
The door opened and Koushiro answered, for once. He looked rather tired, and weary, and frustrated. Daisuke stepped over the threshold, and saw Mrs. Izumi duck into the laundry room. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head, and he grabbed the redhead's hand, pulled him out the door, and slammed it shut.   
  
"Let's go." He started pulling the surprised genius behind him. "Prison break. We have to run before the Warden comes out, and sends the guards after us." They had to find someplace their 'friends' wouldn't find them. Someplace safe.  
  
"Where are we going?" Koushiro asked rather calmly, considering Daisuke was feigning a prison break, and they were probably going to be stuck together longer than the next two weeks.   
  
"I don't know. Where won't the others look for us? We need a place that they wouldn't expect to find us in."  
  
They stopped and waited for the elevator. "Well, I'm sure that they'll naturally assume that this was your idea, which means they'll look for a place where you would go." Brown eyes looked at him, surprised at his willingness to play along. Koushiro grinned back. "I'm tired of being stuck in there, day after day. You have the weekend. I get a lift to school, and back home each day."  
  
"Ouch. Sorry." They stepped into the elevator; Koushiro following behind willingly, though the younger boy hadn't released his hand yet. He didn't say anything, and Daisuke didn't seem to notice. "We'll go to the library."  
  
He nodded decisively, and the genius couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Why the library?"  
  
"Because I wouldn't be caught dead in a library?" Daisuke rolled his eyes as if this explained everything. Then he smiled recklessly, and pushed the button for the first floor. "It's one place they won't look. And unfortunately, it's a good place to study. The evil person down at Rec thinks I'm getting somebody else to do my work."  
  
"Ouch." He used Daisuke's word from before, mirroring the look of sympathy on his face. "Rec?"  
  
The elevator stopped. "Yeah. You know, recreation? The time that prisoners spend in 'The Yard'." Catching the look of confusion on Koushiro's face, Daisuke shook his head in feigned sadness. "You need to watch more TV."  
  
"Television is damaging to the emotional and psychological growth of children." The auburn-haired boy stopped in his tracks and looked hurt.  
  
"How can you say that? Television has all those shows, like...the Discovery Channel, and the History Channel! I watched television, and look at me."  
  
"Two points for my side. The Discovery and History Channels, respectively, are not 'shows'. And..." He stopped, not really wanting to insult his friend, despite the perfect setup he had allowed.   
  
"And?" Daisuke was waiting, his expression guarded. For two weeks, he had waited, and so far, Koushiro hadn't insulted him like he knew any of the others would have. Except Ken, but Ken was...he was different. He had always thought of Koushiro like the rest of them, had put him in the same category. Now, though, he could put him with Ken.   
  
A genius friend who didn't take all of the shots offered to him because of said friendship. People like that were hard to find. Most people didn't think of the pain that a single innocent comment could generate. Daisuke was guilty of that, himself, and had let slip a couple of barbs at Koushiro during the times that they were together.   
  
Now he wished that he hadn't. They walked on in silence, both boys lost in their thoughts. The library was several blocks over, and the streets were relatively clear. Koushiro stopped suddenly, and pulled Daisuke into the nearest shop, covering his mouth to stop his imminent questions.  
  
They waited inside the darkened doorway as Yamato and Takeru walked by, muttering their names, and looking rather angry. After they had passed, Koushiro ducked his head out, and then pulled Daisuke with him. "We had better hurry. It looks like mom has already called out the troops."  
  
"They're guards, Koushiro. Don't be so over-dramatic." They started off again, keeping alert for any more of their friends. They ran up the steps to the library quickly, and shoved through the doors. Once inside the air-conditioning, they stopped, looked at each other, and broke out laughing. Several people nearby looked at them oddly, or glared at them for the disturbance. A young woman at the desk looked up in irritation, before she recognized the older boy.  
  
She came around the desk, greeted them, and then hugged the redhead. "Izzy." Daisuke, who had stiffened up at her approach, seemed to relax again, and he flashed her his usual grin. "Who's your little friend?"  
  
The grin died, and he walked away from them. Not quickly, not without nodding, and mumbling under his breath, but he walked away before they could be introduced. Koushiro stared after him in shock, never knowing him to be so rude. He apologized to his friend, who was just a girl in one of his classes that he'd helped with something or other. "Excuse me. Sorry."  
  
She shrugged, and went back to her desk. He went in the direction that Daisuke had gone, and then realized that he could have gone through a number of doors, and could be anywhere. If he were Daisuke, where would he go? What had he learned about Daisuke in the last two weeks? He liked anything edible, working as little as possible, and talking until his mother, 'the Warden', came back and caught them not working.  
  
He stopped in the middle of the children's section, his back ramrod straight, his breath catching in his throat. A smile stretched across his face, and he laughed slightly, ignoring the looks of confused children and angry parents. Under his breath, he told himself the truth, wanting to hear the words.   
  
"I'm in love." And it was a beautiful thing. Now he just needed to find his...what would Daisuke call him? Fellow prisoner? Cellmate? Partner in crime?

Recapture: a new type

Davis sat in a corner of the non-fiction section, his back to a wall, and his arms loosely wrapped around his legs, a book in his hands. Koushiro saw him, and started toward him, when a person stepped between them, and beat him to it. He hung back and watched as Ken greeted his friend, then sat down beside him.  
  
Koushiro ducked behind a shelf, then laughed at his own silliness. Hiding was pointless, since it was only logical that he would be with Daisuke. With a shake of his head, he turned down the next aisle and approached their corner from an angle.  
  
Ken smiled at his friend as he sat beside him. He had laughed at the punishment two weeks ago, but had sorely missed his best friend. "Hey. I heard that you guys ran off."  
  
Brown eyes twinkling, Daisuke looked up. "Yeah. It was getting stuffy, being stuck in the kitchen, day after day. We're going to study, anyways, and hopefully that will make his mother more lenient." He put the book down, not bothering to mark his page. With a conspiritual whisper, he asked, "So? How did it go?"  
  
The genius blushed, and, in the aisle still, Koushiro paused, uncertain if he should backtrack, or make his presence known. "He's been coming over daily." Daisuke's holler could be heard throughout the building, and people left the section angrily. Koushiro peeked out to see Daisuke hugging his friend. "I'm glad that you approve."  
  
"Actually, I'm jealous." They pulled back from each other, and watched the empty room, oblivious to their audience. "Did I ever tell you that I lusted after you when we were eleven?" Koushiro felt his eyes widen, and his heart break.  
  
"Yeah. About the same time that you told me, and I quote, 'you're my bitch'." They shared the laughter of the memory. "Man, I'm really glad that you never pushed that."  
  
"Of course not. Miya would have had my head, as well as other parts of my anatomy." The laughter again. "Of course, then I realized that you weren't my type."  
  
"Oh, really. When did you decide that?" Ken's gaze was challenging.  
  
"When I got another type." Oh, yeah, that explained a lot. Koushiro waited, half-dreading, and half-impatient for the answer.   
  
"What type is it, then?"   
  
"A type other than you. No Ken's; no mouthy, violet-haired ex-evil geniuses, and, certainly, nobody who's better at soccer than I am. Which you aren't, but I just wanted it covered."  
  
"Right." Ken's reply was mocking, but he didn't follow up on it. "So, who is it? Anybody I know? Another digidestined?" Each question was answered with a nod. "Who?"   
  
Daisuke just grinned, his look smug. "Wouldn't you like to know?"  
  
Ken growled, and Koushiro sighed. He stepped out from the aisle. "Hi, Ken. Hey, Dai. Ready?" He pointed to the bag lying forgotten between the two boys. The auburn-haired one nodded, and stood up.   
  
"I'll see you later, Ken. We have to study. Can you believe that the evil witch imitating my math teacher thinks that I cheated?" He waved his hands in an aggravated manner. "She thinks that I've got someone else to do my homework!" He put his hands on his hip, and got a determined look. "But I'll show her. We have a quiz tomorrow, and I'm going to pass it, and she can eat jellied flies in monkey brains."  
  
He walked away, hoisting his bag to his shoulder, anticipating that his tutor would follow. The geniuses looked at each other with identical faces of confused amusement. Ken laughed gently, shaking his head. "He's a handful."  
  
The redhead nodded, and helped him to his feet. "He is, at that." Something in his voice must have sounded odd, because Ken gave him a funny look. Koushiro looked away, fighting his blush. "I'll see you later."  
  
"Of course. Have fun, and good luck. Both with Daisuke, and your mother when you get home."   
  
"Thanks. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need all the luck I can get." He walked away, leaving violet eyes to follow his departure. Ken suddenly felt a certainty that he was going to be seeing little of his friend in the future, but for different reasons.   
  
He walked to a payphone, and dialed the Izumi's number. "Hello?" He could tell that Mrs. Izumi wasn't very panicked about the disappearance of her son.  
  
"Hello, Mrs. Izumi. This is Ken Ichijouji." He spoke formally, watching as Koushiro and Daisuke settled into a nearby table, chairs side-by-side, and took out a textbook. They didn't know he was watching, and he knew that their study session wasn't just an excuse to do something else.   
  
However, he'd also seen the attraction they kept hidden for each other in their eyes, and the look of gentle affection that Koushiro had directed his friend's way. "Hello, Ken. How can I help you?"  
  
"I found the runaways. They went to the library, and are studying. Davis just got rather...frustrated with being in the same room everyday. He's hyperactive, and still hasn't learned that it's possible to sit in the same spot for more than five minutes."  
  
"I understand. Thank you, Ken. Good bye." He heard the smile in her voice, and wondered briefly if she would chase them down, or let them have their freedom. Looking back at them, he realized that they probably wouldn't mind too much, if she let them stay together.  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
"I'm really ashamed of you two. I can't even trust my own son to answer the door, with out him running away like an escaped convict." Koushiro's mother was pacing in front of them, her agitation less profound than they had expected, but her words would almost belie the gentle anger that prompted them. She wasn't mad, just doing a good impression of it.  
  
"Sorry, Mrs. Izumi." Daisuke tried, his eyes wide and innocent. The redhead snickered, ruining any chance of the look actually working.   
  
She glared at them both, fighting the urge to grin at the guilty, but smug looks on their faces. She could understand their desire to get out. They were young, yet, and such a thing was definitely forgivable. They just didn't have to know that. "Sorry isn't good enough. For your punishment, Daisuke is going to have to start staying here on the weekends, too. I've already spoken with his parents. However, as I can't very well punish your friends as well, they'll be allowed over for two hours on Saturday, and Sunday each."  
  
They glared at her, any happiness they'd managed to capture in the late afternoon destroyed with their newest punishment. She left them alone; two disgruntled boys on the couch in a shadowed living room, their heads lowered, shoulders slumped.  
  
Suddenly, Daisuke sat up straight, and nudged Koushiro in the side. When black eyes met brown, he grinned. "Next Wednesday, the ice cream parlor." The redhead groaned.


	3. Lockdown- The 'lost key'

Lockdown- the 'lost key'

**Words on the computer screen**  
  


  
  
  
  
Mother's are so annoying. Koushiro was a traitor. Daisuke was stuck with the first, because the second had 'to clean his room'. Right. They all knew that that was a lie, since said room was spotless, but that hadn't kept the redhead from running, and leaving his cellmate alone with the Warden.   
  
"How have you been, Daisuke?" They were sitting in the living room, she relaxed in the chair, and he on the edge of the couch, his hands respectfully in his lap.   
  
"Fine. You?" It was Saturday morning, and he had thirty-six hours to go before departure on Sunday. He'd only been in the apartment five minutes, and he was already starting to feel the walls close in on him.  
  
"Good. How are your grades?" He grimaced.  
  
"I failed another test." He'd been so sure that he knew what he was doing. He'd missed passing by one point. It might have been the closest he'd ever gotten, but he was still upset. One point, and he could have laughed in the teacher's face, and shown the world that he was capable of it.  
  
"That's too bad." Her smile was sympathetic, and he had to look away. He couldn't stay mad at her if she was being sweet and kind, and he wanted to stay mad. "How is everything else? Soccer?" He resisted the urge to roll his eyes as they continued to play twenty questions.  
  
"Soccer's good. We have a game next Saturday." He rolled his eyes at her knowing smile. It would be his only escape for another three weeks. The Warden had prolonged their sentencing.   
  
"We're coming." He looked up, the surprise on his face a mixture of hope and confusion. "It's been years since I've been to a game, and I know that Koushiro would enjoy it." What in the world did that mean?   
  
Nevermind, that. They were going to his game! He'd have someone to cheer for him, since his parents rarely managed to make it to any of his games. He grinned, his eyes growing wide and happy. The woman who had said those words, not realizing how much they would mean, nearly cried at the heartbreaking innocence on his face. She swallowed and stood up.   
  
"Excuse me. I have to check on lunch." He nodded, and watched her leave. When he was alone, he fell back against the cushions, his grin in place. Maybe the Warden wasn't so bad, after all.  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
The woman was an evil dictator from the planet ZimBuDari, who's sole mission was to make his existence as miserable as possible in the quickest amount of time allowed. Who ever heard of making a **guest** wash dishes, clean windows, and dust? All in the same three hours. The Warden was a tyrant, and had to be stopped.  
  
Daisuke was miserable, Koushiro was hiding behind his computer, since they didn't have to study. The homework had been accomplished on Friday, a fact that had amazed everyone except Daisuke, who didn't seem to really notice or care. Mrs. Izumi seemed intent on getting all of her spring cleaning done with his assistance, whether he liked it or not.  
  
Which he didn't.   
  
Little did he know, though, that the Warden had silently approved their escape, and was hoping that they'd try it again. However, Koushiro seemed determined to thwart her plan, since he had told her outright, "I'm not going to let him kidnap me again, mother, just so you can have the satisfaction of hoping that we're doing something other than study. Like kissing, or necking."  
  
Her glare had gone unheeded as he turned back to his computer. His little friend was falling right into her grasp, but her own son was turning into an enemy in her quest to find him a boyfriend. Her reply: "You enjoyed it. Don't deny it. You'd love to be kidnapped by him for a reason other than studying. Admit it."  
  
The teary-eyed look that he gave her had been enough, but his words stung. "Yes, that's true. But he won't ever see me as anything more than his tutor, and maybe even his 'cellmate'. We were barely friends before this mother. What makes you think that forcing him to spend time with me will make him something more?"  
  
So, she had let him go, watched as he turned on his shield, and shut out the rest of the world. Her attention had been turned to Daisuke, and trying to solve the puzzle that was his emotions and mind. Not a simple or undaunting task by far, but worth it, if she could find a way to make her baby happy. He deserved to be happy, and she was going to help him find a way to be just that. Whether he liked it or not.  
  
Which he didn't.  
  
She watched Daisuke move into Koushiro's room to wash his window, and then stepped into the doorway. "Boys." They looked at her. "I'm going to shut the door, since I'm going to be vacuuming the hallway." They shrugged and nodded, and went back to ignoring her and each other. She shut the door; her smile sly as she stealthily clicked it shut, and jammed the locking mechanism. They had food, they had water. And now, they had each other.  
  
Her laughter floated under the door, unnoticed by the prisoners. Sometimes, a mother's love couldn't go far enough.  
  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
Daisuke finished the window, and then started out of the room. On the way, he stopped to read the computer screen over Koushiro's shoulder. "That's rude, you know."  
  
"So is ignoring your houseguest, and leaving him to deal with the Warden on his own." His angry reply was met with a chuckle. "Thanks. I get stuck with LP, and you laugh at me."  
  
"LP?" Koushiro didn't look up, but the grin could be heard in his voice. In their three weeks of mutual punishment, Daisuke had learned to read a lot into that deep sound. Amusement, anger, frustration, happiness, sadness, loneliness, surprise. Very expressive, very soothing. Like a glass of hot cocoa on a winter day. Oh, yes, his voice was HOT.  
  
"Yeah, you know. Where you have to clean latrines, and wash floors with toothbrushes." Daisuke shook his head as if Koushiro were simple-minded, and tsk-ed in disapproval. "Jeez, Kou. I thought you were a genius."   
  
He walked away as the redhead turned to face him. "What did you call me?" The sly, trouble-maker grin gave Daisuke away as he shrugged innocently, and moved towards the door.  
  
"Nothing." He tried to turn the knob as the older boy stood up, and started toward him. They were nearly the same height, but Koushiro was just a little taller, where as Daisuke was that much broader. He twisted the knob again, and then looked at it in stunned disbelief. "Oh, Kami-sama."  
  
Koushiro frowned, wondering why Daisuke suddenly looked like he was going to hyperventilate. "Dai? What's wrong?" The auburn-haired soccer star pointed to the door with a trembling hand, his worst fear becoming realized.  
  
"We're trapped. She's locked us in. We're going to DIE." Koushiro tried the door, played with the lock, and then gave it a hard kick for good measure.  
  
It didn't move. "Ow. We are not going to die, so just get a grip." Koushiro hobbled to the bed and pulled his sock off, looking over his toes to make sure that he hadn't broken anything. Finding nothing but tenderness, he looked up in time to see Daisuke pulling madly at the door handle. "Are you claustrophobic?"  
  
The idea was plausible, giving his reaction of the current situation, but the look that the redhead received was highly offended. "As in: afraid of something? No way." Daisuke moved away from the door with unfeigned nonchalance, and sat at the computer chair. "I just really don't like the idea of being locked in. What if the building catches on fire, or an evil digimon attacks the city?"  
  
He pointed this all out calmly, rationally, and Koushiro couldn't help but grin at the picture of Daisuke patiently making sense. "You amaze me." He chuckled under his breath. "You can do physics, but not long division. You have actually read popular, long, and **difficult** books, but you say that television makes you smarter."  
  
"So?" Koushiro decided that the lost look on his face was too cute.  
  
"So. You're a walking contradiction. Like a person who was born deaf, becoming the world's greatest singer. Or Einstein, who failed math."  
  
"And this is going...where exactly?" Still clueless, Daisuke was losing interest in the conversation. He had turned around, and started to play with the computer mouse, pulling up files, and trying to find the games.  
  
He hit the START button, then accidentally clicked on run. The A drive option came up, and he hit OK. A long list of file names opened, and he glanced down it. They were all dated, like a journal, and he realized that he had accessed something he shouldn't have. The genius hadn't noticed yet. "Nowhere."  
  
He was blushing, having caught himself singing Daisuke's praises. Daisuke clicked on the newest date, and looked guiltily over his shoulder. If Koushiro had seen the look, he would have realized that something bad was happening. As it was, he was trying to hide his red face.  
  
Daisuke turned back to the computer as the window opened. **Dear Journal**… He paused, then decided not to risk the glance over his shoulder. **Today is yet another day in purgatory. The conspirators who have deemed it necessary to steep my life in hormone-ridden agony and conceptual hell have found a new weapon.**  
  
Big words he was sure had no purpose than to confuse unintelligent readers such as himself. Koushiro had lapsed into embarrassed silence, and was digging through his bookcase for something to read, unaware that his secrets were being brought into the open.  
  
**Why, for curiosity's sake, did that dratted, annoying, talkative, overbearing, loud, obnoxious**… Ouch. That wasn't very nice. Daisuke had no doubt who that was about. He looked over his shoulder angrily, and aimed the arrow at the X in the top right corner of the screen, ready to close it, and hope that the redhead didn't realize that nosy and sly fit that list when the rest of the sentence caught his eye.  
  
**have to turn out to be such a sweet, loyal, caring, and adorable human being. Look at this. I'm writing rambling, run-on sentences thanks to the little demon washing my window right now. Why has fate doomed me to such a fate, as to always be so close to, and yet so far from my dreams. Did I anger the fates, or is it just the luck of the draw, having to sit by while he drives me to the brink of insanity with his ideas, and his personality. How can any person be such a puzzle of things. Like a Rubic's Cube, with one of the white stickers peeled off and replaced with a red one. Unsolvable, but irresistable.**

Recreation- better than working out

Davis stared at the screen. Koushiro read his book. Mrs. Izumi waited with her ear pressed against the door. She couldn't have been wrong. Her son's friend had been eyeing her baby for a week, his brown eyes so sweetly tender that she'd had a hard time keeping from sighing like the crowds at a romantic movie during the first kiss.  
  
Now, however, she had a feeling that maybe she had gone overboard. Not that locking them in together could really have any negative consequences, unless Daisuke managed to find a soccer ball, or tried to climb out of the only window in the apartment without a fire-escape.   
  
She walked away slowly, uncertain if she had done the right thing, after all.  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
Daisuke hesitated with the arrow over the close icon. Finally, he pushed the mouse away, and scrolled down with the keyboard. **If I had had to classify myself three weeks ago, I would have admitted that I was gay. My mother, of course, is aware of this. Predictably, she has been trying to get me to ask someone, anyone, out. She doesn't care who, as long as they make her baby happy, to paraphrase.**  
  
He thought back on the last three weeks, and her little comments, and slight, encouraging smiles. **Of course, that means that Dai hasn't been able to avoid the wrath of a mother determined. She believes that he could be it, the one that makes me happy. There isn't an hour that goes by where she doesn't comment on his 'charming manners', or 'those darling chocolate eyes of his'. It's enough to turn a gay man straight, the way she goes on about his qualities and virtues.**  
  
A thought struck him, and he frowned. If this was all true, and he had no reason to think otherwise, then they weren't going to his game for him, but for their son. The thought was depressing. **I have tried, on numerous occasions, to list and define his faults and quirks. He's impatient, loud, and obnoxious. He never backs down, whether he's at fault, or not. He bites his nails, and grinds his teeth, and his hair needs a weed-whacker to calm it.**  
  
Double ouch. Attacking his physical appearance, and his personality. He reached for the mouse again, determined to close it down and push it out of his mind. Three more weeks, and it would be over. He could deal with that, and then get himself away from Koushiro before he 'drove' him to the brink of 'insanity'.  
  
**I have a theory that those are the same qualities that draw me to him. I'm almost certain that she's aware of this, as well. There could be no other reason behind her constant pushing and attempts at coercion. She actually told me that she'd withdraw our punishment if I asked him out.** And yet, here they were, still locked together. Daisuke snarled to himself.   
  
**I won't, though. At this point, I'm going to make the best of each day, another one spent with him, and then I'm going to watch as he runs like the demons of hell are after him to get away from me. It's better this way. I'll have had a chance to get to know him, and stored away the memories to reflect on in later years, and I will never have had to know his scorn. 'Tis better to have loved, and lost, than to never have loved at all. Six weeks with him will never be enough, but it's the most that I can hope for. Kou**  
  
Koushiro looked up from his book to the boy that was sitting so rigidly in his computer chair, his form unmoving. "Daisuke? Find something interesting?" He swallowed, realizing that he'd left his disk in the drive. If he read that...he didn't want to think about it.  
  
The auburn-haired one shook his head, then turned around with a grin. "Nothing much. Is it okay if I open a file, and type something?" His eyes were bright and dark, like a dark-chocolate cake mix.  
  
"That would be fine." He smiled back, his black eyes deep and unreadable. Daisuke turned around, the grin disappearing, and opened a file, instantly saving it to the A drive before he started typing. The redhead went back to his book, the sound of typing pushed to the back of his mind so that he was lost in his own world.   
  
Thirty minutes later, Daisuke resaved the file, closed the drive, and stood up. He marched to the door, pounded on it, and waited. Black eyes looked up and tracked his movements. "Mrs. Izumi! I have to go to the bathroom really, really, really bad!" The genius winced at the volume and whininess of his voice, and returned to hide behind his book.   
  
There was silence, and then the sound of a key in the lock, and then the door opened. Daisuke zoomed passed Koushiro's confused father, and into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He came out a few minutes later, and went into the living room. The other two males stayed where they were through all of this, then looked at each other. Koushiro shrugged. "When he has to go, he has to go."  
  
His father frowned, thought about it, and walked away as confused as before. Sometimes he wondered if his father liked being oblivious to most of the happenings in his house. Then he thought about those activities, and decided that the answer was probably 'yes'. The book was set aside, and he stood, trying to decide what to do. He could go back to his computer, or he could go find Daisuke again, and talk with him some more.   
  
Unable to think of a single reason not to, and too many to do so, he went out the door to find his friend. The living room was empty, and he cold hear his mother in the kitchen. Which meant that she had probably rounded Daisuke up for more work. He headed in that direction, and found Daisuke at the table with a large bowl and wooden spoon in front of him. He was glaring at the items with annoyed dislike.  
  
"KP?" Brown eyes shot up. Confusion was first, then amusement, then disgruntlement when he decided that the duty was his alone. Koushiro sat down in the chair next to him, and pulled the bowl so that it sat in front of him. He held his hand out for the spoon, which was farther away and would have required crawling across Daisuke to retrieve.   
  
It was slapped into his hand with a look of gratitude and curiosity. He simply smiled and began to stir the ingredients of what ever his mother was cooking. There was silence, except for the obvious sounds of cooking and food-preparation. Daisuke sat in his chair, glancing around idly. Koushiro was pointedly looking down, but secretly watching his every move with covert glances. The Warden stood at the counter, her back to them.  
  
Daisuke tapped his arm, and he looked at him, glad for a reason to drop the spoon. Without a word, Daisuke pointed at the clock, which read twelve-thirty, and held up two fingers. Then he signaled a hand over his shoulder, and two fingers running. He grinned, eyes wide as he waited to see if Koushiro would catch on. After a moment's hesitation, the redhead nodded, and smiled slyly. He pulled his wallet far enough out of his pocket so that it was known that he had it. They grinned at each other.  
  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
At five minutes to two o'clock, Daisuke sat quietly in the living room, pretending to watch television. Koushiro was in his room, and had been for about ten minutes. They were waiting for Mrs. Izumi to go to the back of the house, but hadn't found a reason for her to do so, yet. The redhead came out with something in his hands.  
  
"Mom?" She looked up and smiled at him. "Could you possibly try getting the stain out of this? I've already tried twice, but it doesn't seem to have been pulled out of the fabric, yet." He held out a white dress shirt.  
  
"Sure, dear. I'll be back in a moment. Make sure Daisuke doesn't steal any of the cookies." She was making cookies for when the rest of the digi-destined would come in later. They were due at six, so they had several hours to kill before they expected them.   
  
"Alright." He smiled as she walked away. As soon as she was out of sight, Daisuke jumped up, ran into the kitchen, grabbed two cookies, Koushiro, and his shoes, and dragged everything as quickly as possible out the front door. In stockinged feet, they made it to the elevator before the apartment door opened. They shoved in side, and hit the down button as Mrs. Izumi started yelling at them. As soon as the doors shut, she stopped, and went back inside with a grin. Until she saw that two of her cookies were gone.  
  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
"My mother is going to kill me, and it's going to be your fault." They put their shoes on in the elevator, a cookie in each of their mouths. Of course, his doom-prophesizing was done with mumbles and grunts, but Daisuke knew what the message was, and ignored it anyway.  
  
"Okay. Ice cream? Or the movies?" His shoes laced, Daisuke removed his cookie and waited for Koushiro's input. If they were going to escape together, it made sense that they vote on what to do during their period of freedom.  
  
Instead of answering, Koushiro looked at him slyly. "If we keep this up, my mother's going to decide that you're a bad influence, and start grounding you from my house, instead of in it." His smile slowly faded when he realized what that would mean, and he turned his face away so that Daisuke wouldn't see the sadness in his eyes.  
  
"Aw, no she won't. Your mother adores me. Heck, given the chance, she'd probably adopt me just to corrupt you." He laughed, the sound happy and care-free as they left the elevator and building behind. "The movies."  
  
"Why?"   
  
"Because it's dark, and even if they look for us, they won't see us in the theater." Good point. He followed the auburn-haired escapee gladly, smiling over the thought of his mother's face when they got back. Despite his normal fear and trepidation when concerning her, he knew that she wouldn't actually do anything to hurt him. The worst she could do would be to take away his computer.  
  
He was suddenly glad that he'd hidden his laptop under his bed. "What movie?" He was content to let the other boy call the shots. After all, it was at his instigation that they were going at all, he deserved to choose.  
  
"You choose." He blinked, surprised by the warmth in the brown eyes thrown his way. He swallowed, hard, and then shrugged. "There's a new Sci-Fi flick showing down at the Cineplex. It looked to be of interest."  
  
"Cool!" They moved down the side-walk side-by-side, as if they'd been in-step forever. Friends for a lifetime.


	4. Escape-Best when shared

Escape: best when shared

The movie was boring. So, of course, they talked all the way through it, ignoring the cheap special effects, and the equally horrifying acting (or lack thereof). Afterwards, they got ice cream, to make up for the first disappointment.   
  
Daisuke paid. Koushiro nearly had a heart-attack when Daisuke walked up to the counter, ordered two cones, pulled out his wallet, and paid for both of them, without giving him a chance to voice protests. Which was fine, since he was stunned speechless. He should have known better, of course, but it was often joked about how cheap Daisuke could be. He bought triple scoops, too.  
  
By triple scoops, he meant each one of a different flavor. By the time they reached the cones, the flavors had run together into an indistinguishable blob of sweet-milk consistency. It was the best memory they shared between them at that point: a mark of their blossoming friendship and strengthening bond.  
  
Koushiro wanted to weep from heartbreak. It was another sign that this was the best that it got. He had finally allowed himself to fall in love, and let in the ever-diminishing hope that something could happen between them, only to find out that he connected with this person in the only way he'd ever allowed himself to connect with anyone else.  
  
If he couldn't love him like he wanted, he'd be the best possible friend he could, and hope that it wouldn't devastate him too much when Daisuke fell in love.  
  
"The monster was lame." Daisuke licked at his ice cream, seemingly oblivious to the puddle making its way down his chin, and towards his neck. Koushiro tipped his head to watch it dribble onto his shirt, lips twitching. "What?"  
  
He paused, his mouth open to say 'You're just too cute'. He caught himself in time. "You're dripping." He held out his mangled and sticky napkin. Daisuke looked at it, then at his wet hands, then up at the redhead. With a sigh and a mocking, but gentle expression, he reached out, and wiped the trail of melting ice cream off of his neck and chin. His eyes and hand paused slightly at the corner of his mouth, and Daisuke held his breath as that black gaze stared at his mouth.  
  
"Your mother is looking for you." They jerked away from the contact hastily, turning to face a smiling Ken. Koushiro looked at him with something akin to resentment, and Daisuke met his violet gaze with disappointed eyes, and a shake of his head.  
  
"What else is new?" Daisuke grinned at his best friend, letting the moment pass easily. It was easier when you knew where you stood, unlike poor Koushiro, who was totally clueless. For once, the tables were turned, and Daisuke, too-dense-to-notice-Motomiya, was on top of things. "Did she send out the alert to all the Guards?"  
  
A shrug and a side-glance at his fellow genius was his only answer. "We're just about done." Koushiro pushed up from the park bench where they had taken their ice cream, and walked to the trashcan to throw his soiled napkin away. He watched it drop into the abyss of garbage, and then turned back to them with his normal guarded expression. "We might as well return now."  
  
They headed back together, the three of them silent for several moments. Then Daisuke turned his grin to Ken. "So?"  
  
"So what?"  
  
"Come on, man! Tell me!"  
  
"Tell you what?" Daisuke growled in frustration.   
  
"Did you talk to him?"   
  
"Who?" Ken hid his smile, and even Koushiro was amused by the look of absolute betrayal on Daisuke's face when her realized that Ken was playing with him.   
  
"Man, that's cold. Never mind, I don't want to know!" The silence resumed for several minutes. "Was it fun?"  
  
"Was what fun?" Koushiro's shoulders were shaking, and he could tell that Ken was having a hard time pulling it off.  
  
"The date!" Daisuke was practically shouting now.  
  
"What date?" Ken walked on calmly.  
  
"What date? What DATE?" Daisuke stopped, and they continued on a pace before turning back to look at him. "Dude, you told me that-" He spoke slowly, obviously agitated, and then cut himself off mid-thought.  
  
"Oh, that. Yeah. It never happened." Ken started walking again, and Koushiro waited for Daisuke to follow him to move himself.  
  
"After all the things I've gone through to make this happen? Man, you suck. I do not envy you your love life." He smiled slightly at his little barb. Until it backfired.  
  
"At least I have one." Ouch. Koushiro winced in sympathy. Daisuke hissed a breath in through his teeth. Ken looked at him from the corner of his eye, waiting for retribution. A sudden laugh caused both genius' to look at him oddly, but he waved them away as he doubled over. When he stopped laughing, he shook away their questions and moved toward the apartment building that had come into view.  
  
"What's so funny?" Ken.  
  
"Are you feeling well?" Koushiro.  
  
"Spill it, Dai."  
  
"You're not going stir-crazy, are you?"  
  
"Come on, Davis."  
  
"Do you need to sit down?"  
  
"Dang it, Daisuke, that's not fair!"  
  
"Maybe you should lay down for a little while." He laughed away their concern and irritation as they entered the lobby. Some things were better left secret, at least for a while.   
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
Twelve assorted teenagers sat scattered throughout the living room when Mrs. Izumi ripped into them this time. Her voice was raised, her eyes flashing, and she was working herself into a frenzy. The culprits were scared for their lives, and Mr. Izumi was nowhere to be seen. Their friends were looking at them with morbid fascination, and sympathy.   
  
Needless to say (or it could have been, but whatever) they were surprised to find out that they had formed such an unlikely friendship, and had run off together not once, but twice. Such things were expected of Daisuke, but Koushiro? Most definitely not. Not only was it a shock, but it was amusing to know that it had taken zero coercion for him to go along with it all.  
  
"I can't believe you two! Twice! In one week? What are were thinking? You had to know that I'd just extend your punishment. Do you even care anymore? Maybe I should start grounding you two from each other. Maybe that would make you realize how serious I am."  
  
Their expressions didn't change, but the pain that flashed through their eyes was mutual. She knew that she'd hit her mark, but she didn't dare push it too far.  
  
"You two will be under lock and key for the next three weeks. Daisuke, you'll only have to be here three hours, and you don't have to come on the weekends, since it's obviously too much for you guys to have to be stuck together seven days a week. Koushiro, you're ungrounded. You only have to make sure that you're here to tutor Daisuke Monday through Friday. As for today, I want everyone out. Everyone."   
  
She pointed toward the door, and watched with a slight smile as twelve teens stood up.   
  
"Except for you two." Their groans were audible. "Say goodbye."   
  
"Bye, guys." Koushiro sat down dejectedly.  
  
"Tell my mother that I loved her. And tell Jun that she can have my stereo." Daisuke flopped down next to him.

Paroled: Breaking Probation

At four o'clock Monday afternoon, Daisuke arrived at the Izumi apartment. He was half-an-hour early. He knocked quietly on the door, praying that anyone but Koushiro answer. The door opened, and he breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Hi, Mr. Izumi. Please, don't let Koushiro know I'm here, yet?" The man smiled at him and nodded, opening the door wider in invitation. "Is your wife home, sir?"  
  
"Not today, Davis." He was the only one left in the house that called him by his nickname, instead of his real name. "Can I help you?" His smile was gentle, questioning, and sincere. He could see where his friend inherited his quiet respectfulness from, whether the bond was biological, or emotional, it was easy to see his upbringing after being in their home constantly for three weeks. Only three more to go, and then they could go their separate ways.  
  
After thinking for a moment, the boy nodded. They moved into the kitchen, as it was farther from Koushiro's room than the living room, and sat at the table. "How much...What if...Do you...Are you aware of your son's sexual preferences?" He spit out finally, blushing as he realized what topic he was discussing with the redhead's father.  
  
"Yes. I can't say that I'm as gung-ho as my wife about it, but I can't say that I love him any less than I did before I knew, either. Why?"  
  
Daisuke grinned, then leaned across the table seriously, his expression earnest. "Sir, I would like you to know that my intentions towards your son are honorable. That is, I may ravish him, but not for many years, and not without intending to be with him forever."  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
Three weeks later, Friday afternoon rolled around, with Koushiro still unaware of Daisuke's visit with his father. They had studied together, and hung out with the digidestined on the weekend. Except for the times that they poured over books, they were never alone, a fact that they both silently resented, but only one was doing anything about.  
  
Daisuke was hatching a plan. As part of it, he had made it a point to find out when Koushiro typed in his 'Journal'. The Friday in question, he knew that Koushiro would open the file dated for that day shortly before Daisuke would be due to arrive. At approximately four-thirty, he'd shut the file, and move to save it, only to realize that there was already a file with that name on it.   
  
Koushiro, being cautious as was per his nature, would check out the file at the same time that Mr. Izumi got back, and informed his wife and son that Daisuke hadn't been there when he went to pick him up. If things went as planned, Koushiro would be reading Daisuke's note while he was getting to the library, so that he could be there if the genius showed up.  
  
A lot of variables, twice as much hope, and loads of courage could only get you so far before the rest had to be placed in another's hands.   
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
Koushiro looked at the clock, and decided that he should probably at least start the day's journal entry. He inserted his disk, opened a word-processing file, and started typing. Two minutes before Daisuke normally walked through the door, he hit the save button, chose drive A, typed in the name, and hit OK. A message error showing a file already named for the day's date popped up.   
  
He frowned, and then opened the disks' files, stopping at the one he wanted. He double-clicked, then maximized the window. And received the shock of his seventeen years.  
  
**By the time you read this, Kou, you're father should be on his way to inform you that I wasn't at the school to be picked up.** He heard the apartment door open and shut through his open door, and then his father's voice telling her that he couldn't find Daisuke. **Of course, this was to be the last night that we got stuck together. You might think that I forgot, except, I obviously had to write this at some point, which meant that I planned this.**  
  
He looked up as his mother stopped in the doorway. "Your little friend has stood you up. I'm going to call his mother, and then see what she wants to do. You might try to see if you can find him. If he doesn't show up here at all tonight, I'm going to find a new punishment, and this time I'll find a way to enforce it." She turned and walked away, muttering about separations and timeouts.  
  
**According to the plan, you're mother should be making all kinds of threats at this point, which, to me, is a good thing. See, I decided that the last three weeks have been some of the best of my life. I wouldn't trade them in for anything. If things don't go as planned, then your mother has decided to ground us from each other. That would be bad.**   
  
Koushiro nodded in agreement. **However, I know of a way that the Warden would have to pardon us, and a way we could be paroled. Indefinately. See, I happened to...kind of see one of the passages of your journal. Sorry. SORRY SORRY SORRY!!! I was being nosy, and you weren't talking to me, and I did it because I wanted to know more about you!**  
  
He chewed on his bottom lip, trying to recall the last time he'd let Daisuke use his computer. **Your lip is not edible. At least, not for you. Don't chew your lips, don't chew your friends, chew your friends' lip? Kami-sama, that was lame. Sorry, agian...again. Dang computer. It's not my fault that it can't catch all of my spelling errors.** Typical Daisuke. Rambled even when typing.  
  
**Anyway. You wrote something about how she'd ixnay the unishmentp-ay if you would ask me out. Well, you don't seem to want to do that anytime soon, so I thought I'd do it for you.** He frowned. Was one night of freedom with the consequences really worth so much to Daisuke? If so, he didn't know the boy well at all. Disappointment settled in his chest.  
  
**I'm not explaining myself very well. Ken was always good with words, but I'm not. My reasons for this? Because Ken and I had a discussion on the type of person that I was looking for, and I refused to give him a direct answer. See, Ken looks for all the world to be my type. Intelligent, cute, nice voice, cute butt, manga collection the size of China, and just all-together perfect.**  
  
**Still not getting this right. Okay. Now, take all the qualities that I just listed, and add one more, obviously: gay. Out of all the things I was looking for, that was the most important, and for him it was least important, because he'll always be my best friend, nothing more. But, somehow, I managed find all of those things in another person. Let's think. Take twelve teenagers. Take away a third, who are females, and you're left with eight boys. Subtract one, me, and two, Ken, to leave six. Divide by the number that like to bring me down: Takeru, Iori, Matt and Jyou. Even Tai. That leaves one.   
  
Now, let's match that one to the qualities I wanted to find: Intelligent-check. Cute-double-check. Nice voice-double-check-check. Cute butt-hehe, ask your father about three weeks ago Monday. Manga collection-I'll just steal TZ's. All-together perfect-why do you need perfection when you have me?** Black eyes narrowed at the screen.  
  
**Still not getting it? Okay, okay. I think that I fell in love with you the first time you woke me up to throw Physics at me. Or maybe it was the first time you refused to take the insult I left wide-opened for myself. It could have been the day that you let me kidnap you, and then tried to convince your mother that it wasn't my fault. Of course, it could have been before all of that, when I realized that your theories didn't give me headaches anymore, and I found myself willing to sit through them just to hear you talk, and to watch the emotions cross your face.**  
  
Koushiro wiped away the tear that had slipped down his cheek. **Now, cutey-patootey. Get your little behind down here to the library, before you break my heart, and I do something drastic to break my probation. Move it, move it!!**  
  
~~~~~~^^~~~~~~  
  
Ken handed the phone back to the young woman behind the counter. She smiled at him, and moved on to help another reader. The violet-haired boy turned to one with auburn hair, and relayed the message. "Koushiro ran out of the house, and they had to throw his shoes out the window at him before he realized that he was barefoot."   
  
Daisuke grinned, sat down, stood back up, and resumed his pacing. "He should be here in about..." The doors slammed open, and Koushiro walked in, his shoes in his hand. He looked around wildly, realized that people were staring at him, and bent to put his shoes on. When he straightened, Ken stood in front of him.   
  
"Interesting." It was the only thing he said before he pointed towards the nonfiction section. Daisuke could be seen at the end of a row of books, sitting against the wall, watching them. The redhead smiled at him, then started calmly towards the boy at the far end. Ken returned to the desk, and asked for the phone again.   
  
"Hello."  
  
"Mrs. Izumi? He found him. I think that it might be awhile before you see either of them again."  
  
"Hello, Ken. Really? What happened?" He could hear her smirk through the phone, and smiled, wondering what she had in mind. He decided that he probably didn't want to know.  
  
"Well, Koushiro came in, saw Daisuke, and has proceeded since then to set records." On what, exactly, he wouldn't say. Some things just weren't meant for a mother's ears.   
  
"Thank you, Ken. Have a good day."  
  
"Bye, Mrs. Izumi."


End file.
